Essays, New Tools and Eclipses……

Well after several weeks, days and hours, writing and re-writing, the drafts for both Essays are in. The cat was not so impressed, difficult to say if this was with the essays’ or lack of attention….

The Negotiated Option Essay is currently titled ‘Recording as a maker…’ and is a little over the word count (hopefully nobody will notice) It did feel that there was so much to talk about in a relatively short space, and I am not so convinced that I have done justice to the subject. I feel I have only begun to scratch the surface.

There was so much research and so many connections; the discoveries have really helped fuel the practice. Drawing similarities and being able to take theories and methodologies from other professions and makers, has been both refreshing and exciting. Now I need to spend time in developing the ideas and understand whether or not they will work in relation to my own work. The second essay, the Critical Reflective Summary is titled ‘Materiality of Place’ this time I more or less hit the word count, give or take 32 words. This essay seemed to really come together, from initially writing all thoughts and feelings to being able to clarify direction when preparing for the MA Review, to the final editing.

The process of writing this essay has really begun to dot the i’s and cross the t’s for me. I feel that I have come so far since starting the MA. From the overwhelmed shaky beginning I now feeling more in control and confidant. The research is beginning to take shape, there is something quiet natural almost organic in the way that it is evolving though I feel now is the time to take control and give some structure and order to develop a research strategy. Though I know myself well enough to know that I have to stay focused and keep being self-critical and reflective, asking questions about what is informing the work. And now I wait for the input…….

My own small excavations led me to research how other professions document and record in the ‘field’, there was the natural connection with Archaeology, so with romantic thoughts of ancient Egyptian tombs, and the idea of needing some kind of ‘kit’ to be able to have your recording equipment to hand, I purchased some tools (whilst in Delft) that could become part of this ‘kit’.

       

And joy of joy’s it was also the eclipse this week which meant lots of airtime of the ‘Beautiful Brian Cox’……… Some how making the stars so accessible. Though my own attempts at recording the event where not so successful, it was a bit on the cloudy side.

 

Back with a vengeance…..

So it was my first week back after working in Delft for the past 2 months. It’s good to be back in the MA saddle………. Calmness has been restored, as calm as I get.

Though I have to say I am feeling a little stressed and worried, that the way I earn my money, takes me away from all of this for weeks at a time. I think I am going to have to look into alternatives; it is just too much time away from everyone and everything. It really breaks up the flow and coming back and seeing other folks’ work makes me feel more nervous. Time to focus……..

So having to pull out of the Health & Wellbeing Option, as I missed the deadline, I have been working on a Negotiated subject. Initially I wanted to expand on the ideas from the   Health & Wellbeing project, which investigated connection and engagement, from the view of a practitioner working in clay. I want to be able to understand my own making methods and my relationship with the material. Researching into my own ‘Clay Experience’.

Unfortunately living in a hotel for 8 weeks did not give me the possibility to explore the subject. So after discussions with my tutor via Skype and looking to expand my own width and breadth of research, I have turned to researching how makers themselves record and document.

How then do makers document their practice and processes? How do they write about their work? As a maker what is being recorded? Are we using writing as a tool? Is it reflective or documentary? Why do we record? Is it necessary? How is the documenting affecting the making process? What format is the documenting taking?

Essay writing….

This was actually a really good use of long evenings spent in a hotel room, when it’s raining, snowing and generally wintry outside. There was lots of reading and researching.

So I have spent the past week trying to turn the research into a 1500 word essay………. easier than it sounds. I had a tutorial on Thursday, this really helps me to gather (though I want to say wrangle, is that a word?) my thoughts and to decide what goes in what box and under what heading. My tutor Helen (Felcey) has a way of being able to help me herd my thoughts and ideas (not an easy task) or will ask why I have chosen to highlight that particular subject, which in turn helps me question my own thought process. This is something that I have to teach myself, to critically engage with my thoughts and ideas. I tend to get so excited about everything that I want to talk about it all, but loose all sense of order. I think that the Blog is helping me to create that order in allowing me to reflect on the process.

Glaze board, photograph courtesy of Louisa Taylor.

 I have had some great support and input from Louisa Taylor (Potter & University of Brighton) and Jane Webb (MMU). I am always blown away when people are so generous with their time and knowledge. Many thanks to both of them.

I have also begun to look into subjects that were very unexpected, Anthropology, Archaeology and Ethnography. It has been a real revelation looking into diverse subjects and finding connections between them and my own ideas and practice. Dare I say that I am beginning to enjoy this research malarkey, though it does not come naturally and I am constantly trying to find my way through the masses of reading. I have begun to edit and to engage with the research in a different way, I try to look at the surface to decide what is relevant and or interesting and dive deeper when I find something that ticks the boxes.

The Book pile grows….

I am also finding that this research is beginning to feed my practice in regards ideas about methodology and working processes. I am genuinely excited to be back and to bring the research and my making together.

Though I do have x2 1500 word essays to complete…….The second Essay is a Critical Reflective Summary about my MA journey so far. For this one I have just bought together some general thoughts and feelings, it has no structure as yet. We have an MA review next week so I am hoping that this will help put some meat on the bones.

Now that general calmness has returned I begin to realise that Delft was an inspirational trip. It made me realise that I have to find some kind of solution between making money and MA-ing, but it did give me the opportunity to focus and re-group my thoughts. After all said and done it was great to be back in Delft after 8-9 years, it is a beautiful little city I can highly recommend a visit. Some photo’s of Delft……